If you’re looking for a light, sweet, and sun kissed drink in time for summer, simply head to your kitchen cabinet. Honey, a natural sweetener with flavors that ranges from delectably mild to richly bold, is the key ingredient to creating some of the most delicious cocktails of the season. Not only does pure honey accentuate the tastes of mixed drinks, but it can satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth without packing on the pounds. So how can you perfect your next cocktail with this heavenly rich, golden liquid? The National Honey Board recently collaborated with leading Latin mixologists Pablo Moix, Junior “The Liquid Chef” Merino, and Gabriel Orta to create honey-based drinks that’ll keep your lips smacking until the final drop. Whether you’re in the mood for tequila, champagne, or vodka, get ready to prepare some tasty, bestselling cocktails with a certain oomph for your next beach bash. Sweet!
Top Honey Cocktail: Jamie Molido
Be the toast of the town with a Jamie Molido, a sensual and elegant cocktail made in honor of Moix’s father and a favorite among New York City’s glitterati. This tart, yet wonderfully refreshing creation can be savored during steamy hot days or on cold rainy nights when all you want is to awaken your spirit. The luscious blackberry jam slowly blends with honey syrup and vodka, making mouths happy anytime. Ladies, who needs a man when you could have this handsome companion that doesn’t forget to bring you flowers?
Ingredients
3/4 oz. Home-made clover honey syrup (2 parts clover honey and 1 part water)
2 oz. Honey vodka
3 Blackberries
3/4 oz. Freshly squeezed lemon juice
Blackberry jam (3 blackberries & 1/2 oz. honey)
1 Orchid
Preparation
In a pint glass add all spirits and mixers. Then add ice and shake vigorously for six seconds. Strain in a Collins glass filled halfway with cubed ice. Top off with crushed ice. Finally, crown drink with the hand made jam and add orchid for garnish.
Top Honey Cocktail: Mari Mercedes
To compliment the Jamie Molido, Moix created Mari Merecdes, a drink inspired by his mother who happens to also be sweet and spicy by nature. The key to this hot number is elderflower liqueur, which comes from a small white flower with a flavor that’s often compared to pears and grapefruit. The result is a smooth concoction that goes down easy, ending with a surprising hint of chili that’s sure to heat up any setting.
Ingredients
1/2 oz. Home-made clover honey syrup (2 parts clover honey and 1 part water)
2 ¼ Slices of Serrano chili
2 oz. 100% Agave tequila
¾ oz. Elderflower liqueur
¾ oz. Freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 oz. Freshly squeezed orange juice
Serrano chili slice
Preparation
In a pint glass, crack Serrano chili slice. Add all spirits and mixers. Then, add ice and shake vigorously for six seconds. Strain into a super fine sugar rimmed cocktail glass and garnish with an additional slice of chili.
Top Honey Cocktail: El Fulo
Almost every mouthwatering drink has some lightweight, zesty gin in it, so why order the usual martini when you can instead go tropical? In El Fulo, clover honey syrup infuses with mild flavored gin, resulting in an exhilarating, candied treat. Gentlemen prefer blondes and so will you after you have some fun with this minty, frosty elixir.
Ingredients
3/4 oz. Home-made clover honey syrup (2 parts clover honey and 1 part water)
3 Lemon wedges
8-10 Mint leaves
2 oz. Dry gin
1 oz. Gin
Powdered sugar
Mint sprig
Lemon peel
Preparation
In a pint glass, hand press lemon wedges and mint leaves. Add all spirits and mixers and then ice. Shake vigorously for six seconds. Strain over fresh ice in an old fashioned glass. Crown drink with crushed ice.
Top Honey Cocktail: Honey-Ginger Caipirinha
For those steamy summer nights, go Brazilian and we don’t mean wearing barely there bikini bottoms. The Caipirinha, Brazil’s national drink, is a refreshing, yet potent drink that after a couple, can make anyone look like Gisele Bundchen. However, if you’re looking for something different, we suggest mixing ingredients from diverse cultures. While caipirinhas are already mildly sweeten with cachaca, rich thyme honey from Greece and Asia’s beloved ginger can also be added for a sharp, fiery taste with an icy finish. When you can’t make up your mind on which cocktail to make, choose the Honey-Ginger Caipirinha, a sophisticated drink for those who aren’t afraid to go wild.
Ingredients
1/2 oz. Thyme honey (two bar spoons)
1 ½ oz. Cachaça
1/2 oz. Ginger liqueur
3/4 oz. Fresh lime juice
1 Crystallized ginger wheel
Preparation
Pour all the ingredients in a mixing tumbler then stir until the honey dissolves
completely. Add ice and shake vigorously. Pour into a rocks glass and garnish with the crystallized ginger wheel.
Top Honey Cocktail: Before Dawn
If you’ve already mastered the art of drinking tequila, then the next lesson is learning how to make this distilled spirit part of your favorite summer cocktail list. In time for sizzling hot temperatures, ripe, juicy fruit is in season and are perfect as natural thirst quenchers. When tequila and buckwheat honey is fused with cool, crisp fruit juices, the result is Before Dawn, a delicate and always decadent drink that can’t be savored just once. Beat the heat and conserve energy by drinking this fruity, flavorful creation that can be enjoyed during the morning or night.
Ingredients
1/2 oz. Buckwheat honey
1 ½ oz. Añejo tequila
1/2 oz. Cherry liqueur
3/4 oz. Fresh lime Juice
1 oz. Fresh pink grapefruit juice
1 Orange twist
1 Spiced cherry
Preparation
Pour all the ingredients in a mixing glass and stir until the honey dissolves completely. Add ice and shake. Serve in a Margarita glass and garnish with an orange twist and a spiced cherry.
Top Honey Cocktail: 2 Kumquats
The olive-sized kumquat may be nearly impossible to find in your local bodega, but the taste of this tiny orange looking fruit is worth the hunt. Not only can it be eaten whole, but it’s sweet, yet suddenly tart flavor makes a mean cocktail, especially when liquid honey is added. The heart of 2 Kumquats is this orange jewel, along with a sprinkling of sage for some added zest, as well as passion fruit tea and gin to satisfy any palate.
Discover why kumquats are a must-have for one of the most enjoyable drinks you’ll ever make.
Ingredients
3/4 oz. Honey Syrup (In a pot, pour 1 part honey and ¼ part water then turn on the fire at medium heat and keep stirring until the honey blends completely into the water. Let it cool off)
2 Kumquats
2 Sage leaves
½ oz. Lime juice
2 oz. Gin
1 oz. Passion fruit tea
Preparation
Muddle the first four ingredients then add gin, tea and ice. Shake and double strain with a hawthorn and then with a chinois strainer. Pour drink into a highball glass over ice.
Top Honey Cocktail: Blossom Rita
Brunch wouldn’t exist without champagne, one of France’s most popular imports, alongside quilted purses and perfume. However, when mimosas become predictable or stale, pop a bottle of bubbly and shake it up with tequila. You may raise an eyebrow at this unusual pairing, but you’ll wind up with a Blossom Rita, a refined, smooth margarita that can liven up Saturday afternoons or romantic evenings. It’s sparkling, luxurious, and will always impress even the pickiest patrons. Go all out this weekend and find out why champagne, like Chanel, never goes out of style.
Ingredients
3/4 oz. Honey Syrup (In a pot, pour 1 part honey and ¼ part water then turn on the fire at medium heat and keep stirring until the honey blends completely into the water. Let it cool off)
1 ½ oz. Reposado tequila
¾ oz. Lime juice
Splash of champagne
Rose petals or edible flowers
Preparation
Put the tequila, lime juice, and honey in a shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously. Strain drink into a martini glass and top with champagne. Garnish with rose petals or edible flowers.
Top Honey Cocktail: Bellarinha
We can’t understand why juicy raspberries are rarely found in a bar. What a shame, considering that this tasty berry is an ideal summer cooler, are at their sweetest during the warm months, and can naturally transform a pale cocktail to crimson-rose. The Bellarinha takes Brazil’s caipirinha and replaces its usual slices of lime with plump raspberries and oozing honey for a glowing ruby number that’s sure to bring out the social butterfly in you. Bellisimo!
Ingredients
3/4 oz. Honey
1 ½ oz. Cachaça
1/2 oz. Lime juice
5 Raspberries
3/4 oz. Passion fruit juice
Splash of orange liquor
Lime wheel
Preparation
Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously. Strain and sieve into a martini glass. Garnished with a lime wheel.
Top Honey Cocktail: Basilico
No Latin household could be complete without succulent pernil, sizzling bistec, or grilled pollo to jumpstart a fiesta. To accompany a good cut of meat, give wine a break and enjoy a sweet-spicy Basilico spiked with whiskey. Golden spoonfuls of honey, basil leaves, and rich, luscious strawberries bring out the Basilico’s different hints of fruit mixed with the aroma of pepper and herbs. Have a sip and lose yourself in a rack of ribs and a cup of Basilico, the one drink that just might encourage you to serve yourself another plate.
Ingredients
3/4 oz. Honey
1 ½ oz. Whisky
1/2 oz. Lemon juice
4 Basil leaves
3 Strawberries
Dash of pepper
Preparation
Muddle the strawberries and basil and then add the whiskey, lemon, and honey. Shake vigorously and strain into a rocks glass with ice. Top with fresh cracked pepper and garnish with a strawberry and a basil leaf.
